[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 5, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H808-H811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TAXPAYERS RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend 
the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3830) to provide taxpayers with an 
improved understanding of Government programs through the disclosure of 
cost, performance, and areas of duplication among them, leverage 
existing data to achieve a functional Federal program inventory, and 
for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3830

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Taxpayers Right-To-Know 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. INVENTORY OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS.

       Section 1122(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as paragraphs 
     (2) and (3), respectively;
       (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so redesignated, 
     the following:
       ``(1) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
       ``(A) the term `Federal financial assistance' has the 
     meaning given that term under section 7501;
       ``(B) the term `open Government data asset' has the meaning 
     given that term under section 3502 of title 44;
       ``(C) the term `program' means a single program activity or 
     an organized set of aggregated, disaggregated, or 
     consolidated program activities by 1 or more agencies 
     directed toward a common purpose or goal; and
       ``(D) the term `program activity' has the meaning given 
     that term in section 1115(h).'';
       (3) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated--
       (A) by striking ``In general.--Not later than October 1, 
     2012, the Office of Management and Budget shall'' and 
     inserting ``Website and program inventory.--The Director of 
     the Office of Management and Budget shall'';
       (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``that includes the 
     information required under subsections (b) and (c)'' after 
     ``a single website''; and
       (C) by striking subparagraphs (B) and (C) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(B) include on the website described in subparagraph (A), 
     or another appropriate Federal Government website where 
     related information is made available, as determined by the 
     Director--
       ``(i) a program inventory that shall identify each program; 
     and
       ``(ii) for each program identified in the program 
     inventory, the information required under paragraph (3);
       ``(C) make the information in the program inventory 
     required under subparagraph (B)

[[Page H809]]

     available as an open Government data asset; and
       ``(D) at a minimum--
       ``(i) update the information required to be included on the 
     single website under subparagraph (A) on a quarterly basis; 
     and
       ``(ii) update the program inventory required under 
     subparagraph (B) on an annual basis.'';
       (4) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated--
       (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
     ``described under paragraph (1) shall include'' and inserting 
     ``identified in the program inventory required under 
     paragraph (2)(B) shall include'';
       (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``and,''; and
       (D) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(D) for each program activity that is part of a program--
       ``(i) a description of the purposes of the program activity 
     and the contribution of the program activity to the mission 
     and goals of the agency;
       ``(ii) a consolidated view for the current fiscal year and 
     each of the 2 fiscal years before the current fiscal year 
     of--

       ``(I) the amount appropriated;
       ``(II) the amount obligated; and
       ``(III) the amount outlayed;

       ``(iii) to the extent practicable and permitted by law, 
     links to any related evaluation, assessment, or program 
     performance review by the agency, an inspector general, or 
     the Government Accountability Office (including program 
     performance reports required under section 1116), and other 
     related evidence assembled in response to implementation of 
     the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 
     (Public Law 115-435; 132 Stat. 5529);
       ``(iv) an identification of the statutes that authorize the 
     program activity or the authority under which the program 
     activity was created or operates;
       ``(v) an identification of any major regulations specific 
     to the program activity;
       ``(vi) any other information that the Director of the 
     Office of Management and Budget determines relevant relating 
     to program activity data in priority areas most relevant to 
     Congress or the public to increase transparency and 
     accountability; and
       ``(vii) for each assistance listing under which Federal 
     financial assistance is provided, for the current fiscal year 
     and each of the 2 fiscal years before the current fiscal year 
     and consistent with existing law relating to the protection 
     of personally identifiable information--

       ``(I) a linkage to the relevant program activities that 
     fund Federal financial assistance by assistance listing;
       ``(II) information on the population intended to be served 
     by the assistance listing based on the language of the 
     solicitation, as required under section 6102;
       ``(III) to the extent practicable and based on data 
     reported to the agency providing the Federal financial 
     assistance, the results of the Federal financial assistance 
     awards provided by the assistance listing;
       ``(IV) to the extent practicable, the percentage of the 
     amount appropriated for the assistance listing that is used 
     for management and administration;
       ``(V) the identification of each award of Federal financial 
     assistance and, to the extent practicable, the name of each 
     direct or indirect recipient of the award; and
       ``(VI) any information relating to the award of Federal 
     financial assistance that is required to be included on the 
     website established under section 2(b) of the Federal Funding 
     Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 
     note).''; and

       (5) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(4) Archiving.--The Director of the Office of Management 
     and Budget shall--
       ``(A) archive and preserve the information included in the 
     program inventory required under paragraph (2)(B) after the 
     end of the period during which such information is made 
     available under paragraph (3); and
       ``(B) make information archived in accordance with 
     subparagraph (A) publicly available as an open Government 
     data asset.''.

     SEC. 3. GUIDANCE, IMPLEMENTATION, REPORTING, AND REVIEW.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section--
       (1) the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means 
     the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and 
     Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
       (2) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the Office 
     of Management and Budget;
       (3) the term ``program'' has the meaning given that term in 
     section 1122(a)(1) of title 31, United States Code, as 
     amended by section 2 of this Act;
       (4) the term ``program activity'' has the meaning given 
     that term in section 1115(h) of title 31, United States Code; 
     and
       (5) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
     Treasury.
       (b) Plan for Implementation and Reconciling Program 
     Definitions.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Director, in consultation with the 
     Secretary, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
     committees a report that--
       (1) includes a plan that--
       (A) discusses how making available on a website the 
     information required under subsection (a) of section 1122 of 
     title 31, United States Code, as amended by section 2, will 
     leverage existing data sources while avoiding duplicative or 
     overlapping information in presenting information relating to 
     program activities and programs;
       (B) indicates how any gaps in data will be assessed and 
     addressed;
       (C) indicates how the Director will display such data; and
       (D) discusses how the Director will expand the information 
     collected with respect to program activities to incorporate 
     the information required under the amendments made by section 
     2;
       (2) sets forth details regarding a pilot program, developed 
     in accordance with best practices for effective pilot 
     programs--
       (A) to develop and implement a functional program inventory 
     that could be limited in scope; and
       (B) under which the information required under the 
     amendments made by section 2 with respect to program 
     activities shall be made available on the website required 
     under section 1122(a) of title 31, United States Code;
       (3) establishes an implementation timeline for--
       (A) gathering and building program activity information;
       (B) developing and implementing the pilot program;
       (C) seeking and responding to stakeholder comments;
       (D) developing and presenting findings from the pilot 
     program to the appropriate congressional committees;
       (E) notifying the appropriate congressional committees 
     regarding how program activities will be aggregated, 
     disaggregated, or consolidated as part of identifying 
     programs; and
       (F) implementing a Governmentwide program inventory through 
     an iterative approach; and
       (4) includes recommendations, if any, to reconcile the 
     conflicting definitions of the term ``program'' in relevant 
     Federal statutes, as it relates to the purpose of this Act.
       (c) Implementation.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Director shall make available 
     online all information required under the amendments made by 
     section 2 with respect to all programs.
       (2) Extensions.--The Director may, based on an analysis of 
     the costs of implementation, and after submitting to the 
     appropriate congressional committees a notification of the 
     action by the Director, extend the deadline for 
     implementation under paragraph (1) by not more than a total 
     of 1 year.
       (d) Reporting.--Not later than 2 years after the date on 
     which the Director makes available online all information 
     required under the amendments made by section 2 with respect 
     to all programs, the Comptroller General of the United States 
     shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
     report regarding the implementation of this Act and the 
     amendments made by this Act, which shall--
       (1) review how the Director and agencies determined how to 
     aggregate, disaggregate, or consolidate program activities to 
     provide the most useful information for an inventory of 
     Government programs;
       (2) evaluate the extent to which the program inventory 
     required under section 1122 of title 31, United States Code, 
     as amended by this Act, provides useful information for 
     transparency, decision-making, and oversight;
       (3) evaluate the extent to which the program inventory 
     provides a coherent picture of the scope of Federal 
     investments in particular areas; and
       (4) include the recommendations of the Comptroller General, 
     if any, for improving implementation of this Act and the 
     amendments made by this Act.

     SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

       (a) In General.--Section 1122 of title 31, United States 
     Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding paragraph 
     (1), by inserting ``described in subsection (a)(2)(A)'' after 
     ``the website'' each place it appears;
       (2) in subsection (c), in the matter preceding paragraph 
     (1), by inserting ``described in subsection (a)(2)(A)'' after 
     ``the website''; and
       (3) in subsection (d)--
       (A) in the subsection heading, by striking ``on Website''; 
     and
       (B) in the first sentence, by striking ``on the website''.
       (b) Other Amendments.--
       (1) Section 1115(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking 
     ``the website provided under'' and inserting ``a website 
     described in''.
       (2) Section 10 of the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (31 
     U.S.C. 1115 note) is amended--
       (A) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ``the website 
     described under'' and inserting ``a website described in''; 
     and
       (B) in subsection (b)--
       (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``the website described 
     under'' and inserting ``a website described in''; and
       (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking ``the website as 
     required under'' and inserting ``a website described in''.
       (3) Section 1120(a)(5) of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``the website described under'' and 
     inserting ``a website described in''.
       (4) Section 1126(b)(2)(E) of title 31, United States Code, 
     is amended by striking ``the

[[Page H810]]

     website of the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to'' 
     and inserting ``a website described in''.
       (5) Section 3512(a)(1) of title 31, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``the website described under'' and 
     inserting ``a website described in''.

     SEC. 5. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
     complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall 
     be determined by reference to the latest statement titled 
     ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, 
     submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 
     Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such 
     statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) and the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Meadows) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to 
revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the 
measure before us.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman?
  There was no objection.

                              {time}  1500

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this bill and would like to thank Congressmen 
Walberg and Cooper for their hard work on it.
  The Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act is a bipartisan and commonsense 
solution that would help identify areas of inefficiency in the Federal 
Government. The bill would create an inventory of Federal programs that 
would be published on a government website and updated regularly. The 
information in the inventory would also be archived.
  Previous attempts at getting information from agencies on Federal 
programs have yielded incomplete and varied results, since agencies 
often have different ways of defining Federal programs.
  This bill aims to provide streamlined and uniformed insight into the 
activities of programs governmentwide. The Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act 
would require agencies to report on the spending, authorization, and 
purpose of a Federal program's activities. Information would also be 
required on any awards of financial assistance. Access to enhanced 
information would result in greater transparency into duplicative or 
inefficient programs.
  This bill would also provide a means to test a way in which this 
comprehensive inventory of Federal programs would be achieved across 
the Federal Government. It would require the Office of Management and 
Budget to report on how existing agency data would be used to create 
the program inventory or explain how the data will be presented and the 
results of a pilot program.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this good government measure, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3830, the 
Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act.
  The Federal Government is a complex and diverse organization. As 
Members of Congress, we are responsible for ensuring the Federal 
Government is efficient and effective. However, we lack the tools to 
understand how the taxpayer dollars are spent. Oftentimes, we lack a 
detailed list of the programs that are there.
  This bipartisan bill will increase transparency and make it easier to 
see how the Federal Government uses its tax dollars.
  May I edit that last statement just a bit? It is not the government's 
tax dollars. It is the hardworking American people's tax dollars. So 
this is a critically important additional tool.
  In fiscal year 2019, the Federal Government spent nearly $4.4 
trillion. Taxpayers should know where their hard-earned money is going. 
To follow the money, we need to know what the government is doing, so a 
comprehensive inventory of Federal programs will help us do that.
  In 2010, Congress required the executive branch to develop a 
comprehensive Federal program inventory. The program inventory Congress 
envisioned would have given the public insight into the government's 
organizational structure and provided a comparable list of all Federal 
programs.
  Comparability is key. We need to see how these programs match up. To 
give you one example, there were 678 duplicative programs in the 
Federal Government that dealt just with sustainable energy. You can 
argue the merits of priority or the lack thereof, but, certainly, over 
600 programs to deal with one particular issue across the government is 
something that cannot be efficient.
  However, the Government Accountability Office found that the program 
inventory built for the previous administration in 2013 failed to meet 
the intent of the law or needs of Congress. Implementing guidance 
allowed far too much flexibility for agencies to define programs. Each 
agency used its own definition, which prevented programs to be compared 
to one another. So the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act updates the law to 
require a more consistent definition of Federal programs across all 
agencies.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this is a good bill that goes with the intent of 
Congress as laid out, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman 
from North Carolina has no further speakers, I am prepared to close.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I am sure we have one other speaker who is 
running in the halls right now, but I may let him speak upon a 
different bill.
  Let me just mention Mr. Walberg's leadership on this, a real shout-
out to him and his leadership on trying to make sure congressional 
intent was indeed addressed. I thank him for his leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the 
balance of my time, and I urge passage of H.R. 3830, as amended.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Will the gentlewoman yield?
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Yes, I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. MEADOWS. I appreciate the gentlewoman's flexibility, but if you 
would let me reclaim my time and yield to the gentleman, who made it in 
by the hair on his chinny chin chin.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Himes). Without objection, the gentleman 
from North Carolina reclaims his time and yields to the gentleman from 
Michigan.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and gentlewoman.
  Mr. Speaker, I did shave this morning, so there wasn't much hair on 
the chinny chin chin.
  Mr. Speaker, American taxpayers deserve to know where, when, why, and 
how government is spending their hard-earned dollars. This is why I 
partnered with my colleague from Tennessee, Representative   Jim 
Cooper, to introduce H.R. 3830, the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act. This 
bipartisan legislation requires Federal agencies to supply an online 
accounting of their program activities in an easily searchable 
inventory so that Americans can keep tabs on where and how their tax 
dollars are being spent.
  The inventory will account for how funds are allocated, the total 
amount appropriated, obligated, and outlaid for services and the 
intended population served by each program. It will also provide 
performance reviews for each program, including any and all inspector 
general or Government Accountability Office reports. All of the 
information provided for the inventory will be updated regularly to 
provide for a more real-time accounting of Federal program dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask for support from my colleagues for this 
legislation. I think its time has come.
  Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman's courtesy. I urge 
support for this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 3830, as amended, and yield back 
the balance of my time.

[[Page H811]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3830, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________